There were the Newtons, Bob and Joyce, and the rest of the Hoosier Tire clan.

There was longtime buddy “Irish” Saunders, who has built the Plymouth Speedway into a popular attraction.

And there was an auditorium full of distant relatives, bound together by an appreciation for NASCAR.

It didn’t take long for the 40-year-old driver/owner’s personality to command Newton Center.

This was Tony Stewart unplugged.

Jeans, a pair soccer shoes and an untucked golf shirt added to the casual ol’ No. 14 radiated in his down-home exchange with his fans.

His opinions ran the gamut - from teammate Ryan Newman of South Bend, to nemesis Kyle Busch, to his habit of going through girlfriends as quick as a pit stop.

On Newman: “He’s the easiest (employee) you can imagine. When Ryan comes in for team meetings, he may have mud all over his boots from working half the day at his farm (in North Carolina). We’re great friends. That makes us even better teammates, because we get along so well.”

On Kyle Busch: “There aren’t any bad guys in the (Sprint Cup) series. Even Kyle Busch isn’t that bad. If there are five words that mean the same thing, (Busch) is going to pick the one that makes everybody mad.”

On Minnesota Congresswoman Betty McCollum, who wants to stop the U.S. Army from being a NASCAR sponsor, which happens to be Newman’s car: “That senator lady, I’d like to get her in a car and run 10 laps. I’d make her wet herself. If she could see firsthand the advertising platform, she’d see how we could reach young people. We should get her to a race and get her educated.”

On Sunday’s Brickyard 400: “I ran into a cone (near the pits). I ran into a bigger cone, Kyle Busch. I ran into the wall, and I still finished sixth.”

On winning a World of Outlaws race in Canada recently: “I put (an oversized) Happy Gilmore check in the back window of the bus at the Brickyard. I was proud of that.”

On Danica Patrick: “I’d go out with her, absolutely.”

On Jeff Gordon: The audience groaned at the mention of his name. “I know. He’s got a hot wife, though. Just tellin’ the truth.”

On the longevity of his girlfriends: “Some made it a couple hours. Some made it a couple months. I just broke up with my girlfriend yesterday, but she drives for me, so I guess I’ll see her again.”

On Trevor Bayne winning the Daytona 500 in his first try. Stewart has never won it: “We flew (Bayne) to Illinois to run on a dirt track. All the way, I was staring at the (championship) ring on his finger. He said, ‘Is there something wrong?’ I said, ‘I want that ring. How’d you get that lucky, kid?’ Running at Daytona is a lot more of a level playing field. It’s a strategy race. It’s like playing chess and I’m a checkers player.”

On his acting on the TV show “The Glades:” “I act like an idiot every week. As for my TV career, I don’t know. I couldn’t remember the lines. The director would say the lines and I’d repeat them. The editing made me look like a genius.”

On whether or not he’d climb the fence if he won later this season at the Chicagoland Speedway: “It’s tradition at Indy, so I’d do it there. As it is, I’m living on borrowed time. I don’t want to win a race and fall off the fence and wake up in a hospital not remembering anything.”

Stewart was in rare form Tuesday. An opinion on anything and everything.